


The Rock Beneath the Water

by the_rck



Category: Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Betrayal, Captivity, Established Relationship, F/M, Not a romance, Psychological Torture, Retaliation, Revenge, Starvation, references to rape, surrender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 22:10:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12874080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_rck/pseuds/the_rck
Summary: Fiona closed her eyes for a moment.I’m glad he can’t see me.“At one point,” she told Mandor, “I’d have enjoyed that. Sadly for you, my family loyalty comes first.”His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “Family loyalty is laudable.”Ah. He knows now. That’s a little easier.She allowed herself an audible sigh. “You will likely survive. Corwin did, after all.”





	The Rock Beneath the Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Filigranka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Filigranka/gifts).



> Title from Sharon Wang's poem, "Radial Scent."
> 
> Thanks to Isiscolo for beta reading.
> 
> Written for a prompt I saved from the requests for Captive Audience 2017.
> 
> The references to non-con/rape tag is for what Fiona thinks happened to Corwin (mostly oblique) and for what might possibly happen between her and Mandor some time in the future (possibly open to interpretation).

Fiona looked down at the crystal paperweight on her workbench and smiled. The color had changed from a soft yellow to green with streaks of black, announcing that her trap had been triggered but hadn’t quite closed yet. She didn’t expect, however, that her prey would manage to escape. _He’s surprised me before._ Her smile deepened. _And it will be much less fun if he doesn’t fight at all._

She didn’t stop her work when the green solidified and brightened, telling her that she had a prisoner, but she did start humming a love song her father had written for her mother. _Let him realize first that he can’t get out. Then let him realize that he misjudged me._

When she finally looked in on Mandor, he was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor. She suspected that, if she measured, he’d be exactly in the middle, exactly rather than approximately. She wasn’t going to measure. She wasn’t going to be impressed.

She shook her head. “You think I’m younger than I am. More fool you.”

He, being unable to hear her, didn’t respond at all.

She went on, anyway, “I know what you are. I know what to do with you.” Her upper lip curled. “I am neither useful nor amusing. You, on the other hand…”

She allowed him to hear her laugh and wasn’t particularly surprised that he only raised his eyebrows. She thought about telling him that he was cute, but she doubted that he would understand.

She waited three days before she looked in on him again.

He still looked unruffled and was still seated in the middle of the room.

She wondered if he’d really stayed in that position the whole time. Not searching the walls, floor, and ceiling of the cube for weaknesses seemed out of character. _Especially if he realizes I’m not playing. Therefore-- he still thinks this is foreplay._ She wondered, too, how much he’d had to change the inner workings of his body to deal with the lack of food and water. _And the lack of a toilet. That alone should tell him I’m not teasing._

 _Maybe he knows but is out of options?_ She considered the things Corwin hadn’t said, and she smiled. _Good._ She lowered the temperature inside the prison cube to just above freezing. The boredom and isolation would probably get to him before the environment did, but it would be an interesting test of his abilities.

And it made a point she doubted he’d miss.

Mandor didn’t start to fray, physically, until ten days had passed, but, by day eight, he was up and pacing and trying to talk to her.

She didn’t bother to listen. There was no chance he’d give her what she wanted, not yet, probably not for months. Mandor had resources that Corwin hadn’t. She waited five more days then activated the spell to let him hear her and her hear him.

“At this point,” she said, “I’ll trade you water for everything you’re carrying.”

That he would hide something was certain. That she would find it and take it was also, she thought, certain.

He looked around and finally settled on a corner of the cube as his focus. He bowed toward it. “Fiona, my Lady. This is entirely unnecessary.” His voice was only a little rougher than normal. “Whatever I’ve done to offend, I apologize. You know I adore you.”

 _As much as you’re capable of, yes._ Fiona wasn’t the only one to have guesses about what had happened to Corwin while Dara held him, but she had been the one to point out that Dara was young, too young to have managed it on her own and, likely, not creative enough. Mandor, on the other hand… 

“I’ve no objection to adoration. In its proper context.” Fiona didn’t bother making the words harsh. “I’m sure we’ll find that, eventually. Now strip.” She made the last two words implacable.

He hesitated.

She was sure he was pulling a few items deep into his own body so that she wouldn’t realize he had them. _If I have to run your body through a sieve, I will._ She wondered if shapeshifting would let him survive that. Killing him was not part of the plan. At least not soon, not without getting what she wanted from him. 

And maybe she wouldn’t have to kill him after all. If he came to understand his place, she might be able to keep him. The rest of the family simply wanted an object lesson. Even if they’d blamed Dara completely, she was Merlin’s mother, and all of them found it difficult to upset Merlin.

At some point, Fiona really had to figure out how Merlin did that.

Mandor started by putting a Trump deck on the floor. Then he set down three steel balls and a knife. His clothing hit the floor very quickly after that, but he kept looking at that corner as if he was hoping that she appreciated the view.

She did, but that wouldn’t help him any.

She had the floor swallow each item once Mandor was no longer touching it.

Mandor certainly noticed, but he didn’t show any reaction.

Once Fiona had taken everything, she transported a pitcher of clean water into the cell and watched as Mandor drank. _If he really were human, he’d make himself throw up, drinking that fast._ “I’m a little surprised you didn’t eat your clothes.” She let amusement into that.

He set down the pitcher and bared his teeth at the corner he’d chosen to focus on. “I’m far from that desperate.”

Part of her wanted very much to have him in her bed immediately. _He’s one of the better lovers I’ve had, but-- I’m not stupid. He still thinks he’s my equal._

Bleys had offered to do the breaking for her once Mandor was trapped. Fiona had refused. She thought that Mandor deserved that much respect.

And Bleys really needed to learn that she was neither soft nor fragile. He, of all people, had no excuse for not realizing it.

After four days of her giving him only water, Mandor said, “This is merely prolonging the agony.” His tone was neutral, as if he were discussing something with no personal relevance.

She considered whether or not to answer then decided that it was time. “That is the point. I’m curious as to how long it will take. It’s not something I’ve investigated before.”

“I’d have been happy to find you research subjects.”

Fiona closed her eyes for a moment. _I’m glad he can’t see me._ “At one point,” she told him, “I’d have enjoyed that. Sadly for you, my family loyalty comes first.”

His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “Family loyalty is laudable.”

 _Ah. He knows now. That’s a little easier._ She allowed herself an audible sigh. “You will likely survive. Corwin did, after all.” She didn’t think she needed to go into the fact that her siblings were exploring the possibility of culling the upper ranks of the Courts of Chaos. _Or that Random said he couldn’t officially endorse it but that his authority over us stops at the edge of the Golden Circle. And that Vialle has been attending the discussions._ “I cannot-- none of us can-- permit an assault on any member of our family to go unpunished.” She almost missed the brief tightening of the muscles of his back. “There are too few of us for mercy.”

“Ah.” He didn’t say anything else for almost six hours. He didn’t move either.

She used the time to work on the artifact she hoped would let her siblings find Corwin’s children in the Courts. The instability of everything there made the whole thing more challenging, but she was sure it could be done. _The masters of Corwin’s Pattern will not answer to the Lords of Chaos._

“Fiona.” When Mandor finally spoke again, he only said her name.

She was in the middle of a finicky bit of engineering, so she took almost half an hour to answer. “You are hardly my only concern, Mandor.” She made her voice reproving. It could simply have been a factual comment, but she wanted him to remember that she had the power. _That I know I have the power. That I know what I can do with it._

He didn’t react for several seconds. “Dara fed Corwin.”

 _Trying to shift blame._ She laughed. “Corwin understands his power far less well than you do.” She was almost certain that Corwin still didn’t comprehend what he had done to himself by creating a Pattern. He definitely didn’t understand that he had done something Dworkin hadn’t been able to manage. _No blood in it at all. Did he forget that that is why our Pattern is vulnerable? I wonder if using it will be limited to Corwin’s blood or if it will require something else?_ She put that aside as irrelevant.

“What is the price, Fiona?”

 _Complete surrender._ “I made sure that someone else has the key to let us out of this Shadow.” She said it gently, without anger she’d have felt in her early years. _It’s an admission that I might not win under all circumstances._ “I didn’t underestimate you to that extent.” _Subverting me buys you nothing._

His hands clenched then relaxed. “If you weren’t planning to let me out of this box--” Pure loathing for his prison came out in the word. “--eventually, you wouldn’t starve me. You’d just let me go mad from boredom.”

“I could still do that if you’d prefer.” She wasn’t sure she believed his visible shudder in response. “I have enjoyed your company, but you going mad would serve as well as anything else. I could set things up to keep you fed and simply leave.” She thought it possible that the brief flicker of panic that crossed his face might not be feigned. “I know you don’t enjoy bowing to anyone.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “Fiona--” There was a note of pleading in his voice that she’d never heard from him before. “I would bow to you.”

“As long as no one sees.” She put every particle of the skepticism she felt into the words. 

He flinched, and she decided that he really was close to the end of his rope.

_But will that win over his pride?_

“When I put my enemies into hell,” he said very quietly, “I do them the kindness of making it private.”

She laughed. “Only because it’s culturally unacceptable to show them off.” She hardened her voice. “If our retaliation remains private, it’s hardly useful, is it? We were merciful once, especially toward Sawall, for Dara’s sake and for Merlin’s. Once is all you will get. Any of you.” _Except Merlin. Except Dara. Except Dara’s other children._ Fiona wasn’t convinced that any of that was wise, except maybe in Merlin’s case, but they were actually kin by blood. The family had suffered worse breaches of trust among its members before.

And Benedict planned to spend some time with Dara. Fiona doubted that Dara could outmaneuver her grandfather. _Or whatever Benedict actually is to her. My bet’s still on father._ Fiona was honest enough to admit, privately, that part of betting on Benedict as Dara’s father was a hope that there weren’t other hidden relatives in the Courts. Bleys, Caine, and Florimel had all looked and found nothing, but that didn’t mean there had been nothing to find.

“I’m an object lesson then?” Mandor sounded as if he understood.

“Indeed.” Fiona decided to gamble that he really did. She opened a door in one side of the cube and strolled through, letting the wall seal itself behind her. “You haven’t many options. I’m fond enough of you to give you some, but not one is actually what you might consider pleasant.”

He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe she was actually there. “I didn’t think you’d risk it.”

“Is it a risk?” She smiled at him. “We both know better.”

He looked away, and she knew she’d been right.

She walked over and put her hand against his cheek. “I can destroy your mind, or your body, or your will. You might recover from the last.” _If I get careless._ “You have that much choice.”

He turned his back on her entirely and took three steps away from her.

She let him go. “You’d make an impressive pet, and you were… passably entertaining in bed.”

He flinched again. “You want my will.” He didn’t look at her.

“I could have taken it without ever letting you know that I was the one doing it.” She hoped he understood this as the mark of respect it was. “Would you rather not have the choice?” She made the question as gentle as she could.

“I know what you’ll choose, so it’s much the same as deciding,” he answered.

“Do you? Destroying your body would be an unsurpassed occasion for research. I’d find out what you could recover from, what bits of your body you could live without.” For that research, she would prefer someone she despised. _I wonder if he’ll realize that?_ “If I did it right, I could keep you sane to the very end.” _The important part, if I kill you, is that it’s clear to anyone who sees the corpse that you spent a very long and unpleasant time in the process. If it’s research, at least I get something out of the process. Something personal rather than for the family._ “We might have some illuminating conversations.” _About things like how many children Corwin has now._

She walked closer and ran her hand along his spine. “The fall is all there is now, Mandor.” She felt him stiffen under her hand.

“What will Merlin say?” He didn't sound as if he had much hope that it would matter.

“I suppose that depends on what I do. And on how much being king changes him. It will, you know.” Fiona planned to take pains not to let Merlin see Mandor afterwards. “He might actually realize how much you were planning to fuck him over. He's naive, but he's not that naive.”

Mandor started to laugh. Laughter turned rapidly to shudders. He raised both hands to his face.

She pulled him around to face her. He didn't resist, but it wouldn't have mattered if he had because she was stronger than he was. She put her arms around his body and made soothing sounds. That he let her told her that either he was done in or hoping to play a long game. _I would. I'd have done it sooner, but I have less invested in pride._ “Would you like a chance to wash?”

He bent to press his face against her shoulder. “You want a dog.”

She ran her hand over his hair and down his neck. “I want an utterly obedient man who can do things no dog can. You’ll be good for me, won’t you?”


End file.
